Post by IggyWiggy on Sept 19, 2015 15:26:47 GMT
Brian Sewell, who was described as Britain’s “most famous and controversial” art critic, has died aged 84.
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Eminent critic and writer, famed for his dislike of contemporary art, dies after being diagnosed with cancer.
Brian Sewell, who was described as Britain’s most famous and controversial art critic, has died aged 84.
The London Evening Standard critic died on Saturday after being diagnosed with cancer last year.
Sewell underwent successful surgery in July 2014 to remove a tumour from his neck but a strong course of radiotherapy affected his ability to taste and talk. He was severely unwell for the final month of his life, his friend, fellow art critic Charles Darwent, told the Guardian on Saturday.
During his career he made no secret of his contempt for modern art and was renowned for barbs directed at the likes of Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst. He called Hirst “fucking dreadful” and claimed grafitti artist Banksy “should have been put down at birth”.
His waspish put-downs, love of fine drawing, knowledge of art history and his genteel diction made him one of the UK’s best-known critics.
His acerbic turn of phrase led to regular appearances on television, including two turns as a panellist on the BBC satirical gameshow Have I Got News For You?
Sewell’s fastidious tastes in art were just as well honed when it came to the great masters. He once told the Observer that Raphael was suitable only if you needed “a really good Ordnance Survey” of a face, while the superior Titian could instead deliver something that would “speak to you”.
Sewell was born in 1931 in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire and raised by his mother in Kensington, London. His father, the composer Philip Heseltine, committed suicide before he was born.
He was educated at Haberdashers’ Aske’s boys’ school in Hampstead and turned down a place at Oxford University to study at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
He joined the Evening Standard in 1984 and worked for the paper until June 2015.
“He was fantastic,” said Darwent. “It takes a lot of courage to stand up to the tides of fashion but he didn’t just do it, he loved it. There was a side to Brian people didn’t see. He was characterised as someone who just said rude things about people but he had a hugely generous and inspiring side.”
www.theguardian.com/media/2015/sep/19/art-critic-brian-sewell-dies-aged-84
[img src="
" alt=" "] Eminent critic and writer, famed for his dislike of contemporary art, dies after being diagnosed with cancer.
Brian Sewell, who was described as Britain’s most famous and controversial art critic, has died aged 84.
The London Evening Standard critic died on Saturday after being diagnosed with cancer last year.
Sewell underwent successful surgery in July 2014 to remove a tumour from his neck but a strong course of radiotherapy affected his ability to taste and talk. He was severely unwell for the final month of his life, his friend, fellow art critic Charles Darwent, told the Guardian on Saturday.
During his career he made no secret of his contempt for modern art and was renowned for barbs directed at the likes of Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst. He called Hirst “fucking dreadful” and claimed grafitti artist Banksy “should have been put down at birth”.
His waspish put-downs, love of fine drawing, knowledge of art history and his genteel diction made him one of the UK’s best-known critics.
His acerbic turn of phrase led to regular appearances on television, including two turns as a panellist on the BBC satirical gameshow Have I Got News For You?
Sewell’s fastidious tastes in art were just as well honed when it came to the great masters. He once told the Observer that Raphael was suitable only if you needed “a really good Ordnance Survey” of a face, while the superior Titian could instead deliver something that would “speak to you”.
Sewell was born in 1931 in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire and raised by his mother in Kensington, London. His father, the composer Philip Heseltine, committed suicide before he was born.
He was educated at Haberdashers’ Aske’s boys’ school in Hampstead and turned down a place at Oxford University to study at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
He joined the Evening Standard in 1984 and worked for the paper until June 2015.
“He was fantastic,” said Darwent. “It takes a lot of courage to stand up to the tides of fashion but he didn’t just do it, he loved it. There was a side to Brian people didn’t see. He was characterised as someone who just said rude things about people but he had a hugely generous and inspiring side.”
www.theguardian.com/media/2015/sep/19/art-critic-brian-sewell-dies-aged-84
